Aboriginals
The Australian Aboriginal culture has been in existence for thousands of years. Knowledge about prehistoric Aboriginal life has been acquired from analyzing archaeological evidence and from the oral traditions that have been passed through the generations. There is not just one Aboriginal society. Until European involvement starting in the early eighteenth century, there were about 125 tribal groups. These tribal Units are further broken down into bands which are the basic family unit although in some tribes consisting of more than one family. The aboriginal society has no elected leaders; however each band has an understood leader which is known as the "Elder". The Elder would be the oldest member of the family, or in the case of a multiple family band, the person who is considered to be the wisest of the older people.
The Europeans came in contact with the Aboriginals in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Their experience with European contact (and colonization) resembles the experience that the native North Americans had with them. The Aboriginal society was subject to murders, destruction, and a significant loss of culture as a result of the European presence in Australia. The fate of many Aboriginals, including alcohol dependency and reliance on food and clothing handouts, mirrors that of the Native Americans as well. In modern times, some aboriginals have attempted to return to a traditional life in the bush, but many of these native Australians have been profoundly affected by the European making a return to tradition near impossible.
The central belief system of the Aboriginals is the "Dreamtime belief". According to the Aboriginals, before the present age was the "Alchera of the Arando" or what is also called "The Dreaming". During this time, the ancestors of the Aboriginals lived on the earth and they had special powers and a special connection with a certain native Australian animal. This...
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